Exploring Standards-based Lesson Plans

For this week's Educational Technology assignment I will explore an example of standards-based lesson plan as it applies to my grade range and subject area. In honor of Black History Month, I also want to tie my sample lesson into some young adult (YA) books I've recently read and would like to someday incorporate into my own curriculum. My English/Language Arts licensure will cover grades 7-12 and these books are appropriate for this age range.

To begin, I was inspired by the week-long Black Lives Matter at School site which is a "national committee of educators organizing for racial justice in education" (BLM at School, home page). Of course this learning opportunity will work for any time in the school year, but the committee focuses on a Black Lives Matter curriculum week in early February.

I pulled a sample standards-based lesson plan that I imagined tying in to the novels I loved. The novels from my own bookshelf include...

     1. Out of My Mind, by Sharon Draper
     2. Dear Martin, by Nic Stone
     3. Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson
     4. Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward
     5. Copper Sun, by Sharon Draper
     6. The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
     7. American Street, by Ibi Zoboi

There are so many more! Including, of course, anything by one of the most important American writers, Toni Morrison. I could fangirl on Toni Morrison all day! However, for this post, I chose novels that: a) involve a teenage protagonist, b) deal directly with the U.S. legal system (including Jim Crow laws, etc.), c) are award-winners, bestsellers, or teacher favorites, and d) tie into my sample lesson plan.

The sample lesson plan I'm using is a Google Doc on the site and can be found here. As you can see, it fits the AYA grade range and is an interdisciplinary introduction to "Restorative Justice, Empathy, and Loving Engagement." It aligns with a number of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) including: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.4.

Additional lesson plans and resources are available by clicking the link for Lesson Plans on the home page menu and scrolling down to "Black Lives Matter in #PHLed: Lesson Resources Overview." This Google link takes you to an exceptional list of videos, activities, and learning opportunities all connected to CCSS. The lessons are organized by grade range and apply to all subject areas. It is worth checking out!

How do the standards play out in the design of this lesson plan? Since this blog post focuses on analyzing the standards I will break down each standard with an example from the lesson.

ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1 This standard asks students to support inferences with textual evidence. It's the classic "show don't tell" of teaching literature -- show me how you drew this conclusion from reading the text by pointing to influential passages. Students practice this skill by reading an excerpt of "Destruction of Black Civilization" by Chancellor Williams and responding with discussion-based questions that draw on Williams' argument. Here's a screenshot from that portion of the lesson which I'm including because I'm taking the lesson out of order for this standards analysis post...

ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2 I liken this standard to following a trail of breadcrumbs through the woods in that students will identify key textual details as part of a pathway to the bigger ideas. What are the themes of this text and how did you find the "breadcrumbs" to follow? This is illustrated by watching the video "Crash Course in Philosophy: What is Justice?" Students then discern the theme of justice by identifying the various types of justice presented here.

ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 moves students up Bloom's Taxonomy by evaluating the texts they've read in a diverse array of formats to tease out the deeper meaning. Students achieve this by connecting the perspectives they read and viewed about justice with what they know about the U.S. justice system. Here's a screenshot of some discussion questions following the video...

ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 and ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 takes students from what others say about justice to what they say in their own words. After the students demonstrate understanding of the various perspectives, they work in small groups to evaluate which ideas best fit the definition of restorative justice.

Finally, the culminating activity involves students creating original ideas about justice. This aligns with ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 in which students present their ideas in a new format, namely the "Restorative Manifesto" list of "practices, beliefs and values that are restorative in nature" ("Restorative Justice" lesson plan). I love this part of the lesson plan so I'll include it here...

There are a number of extension activities I won't go into here but look like an exciting way to bring these ideas to life.

Finally, how might I incorporate this into an ELA classroom using one of the novels from the above list? Let me count the ways...

1.  Consider these perspectives of justice as they relate to the international tragedy of enslavement in Copper Sun. How did the African conception of slavery differ from the European practice? What are similarities and differences between indentured servitude and slavery? How are our current ideas about freedom and justice similar to and different from the 18th century? What forms of injustice do we deal with today? Are these practices of injustice part of one individual's personality or built into our system of laws and culture?

2. How do the novels Dear Martin and The Hate U Give directly confront the contemporary U.S. justice system? How could the core tragedies have been avoided? How do the personal lives of the protagonists elaborate our ideas about justice? Is the U.S. justice system a just system according to these novels? How do the character's experiences with this system relate to your own understanding of restorative justice?

3. The protagonists in Sing, Unburied, Sing and American Street are haunted by ghosts of those who unjustly died. How do we continue to be haunted by the specters of history? What unrest do these ghosts bring into the present situations? How are ghosts and supernatural monsters a metaphor for injustices that won't go quietly into the night?

4. Another Sharon Draper novel, Out of My Mind, deals with another form of injustice -- the incapacity to speak and move. When Melody's ability to communicate changes, how does her sense of freedom and justice change? Where do injustices lurk that we might not notice? How does our medical system and society ignore or silence bodies and communication patterns that are marginalized? How can mainstream voices/bodies/ideas be better at empathy and listening?

5. Finally, in the poetry of Brown Girl Dreaming, we see the power of place as it affects the culture of justice and freedom. What are the different attitudes of racial justice, fairness, and equality in the different places where Woodson lives? How is time rooted in place, with "traditions" of Jim Crow or other forms of racism ground into the soil? How do different religious practices share opportunities for spiritual and earthly freedoms? Are these practices constricting in other ways? How does poetry connect to other Black forms of expression, such as spirituals, rap and hip-hop, and spoken word performance? Is the poetic form constrictive or liberating for the ideas?

I hope you've enjoyed this excursion in thinking through standards-based lesson plans and the tie-in to Black Lives Matter at School and contemporary YA literature and will find some takeaways for your own lessons. I want to give special thanks to the Black Lives Matter at School committee for designing this deeply engaging material and making it available publically for educators and community partners. Thank you for your work!

Assistive Technology for Students with Hearing Impairment

I recently read Cece Bell's phenomenal graphic memoir, El Deafo, about her experience renegotiating school and friendships after her hearing was impaired by a severe childhood illness. It's a fabulous memoir that was the first graphic book to win a Newbery honor (Cece Bell "Books!").

El Deafo also addresses many of the issues kids face -- navigating a school system that doesn't meet your needs, desiring to fit in socially while cultivating individuality, and fostering healthy friendships. I look forward to reading it with my students some day.

In school, Cece struggles with her hearing assistive technology because it's clunky and visible and she's embarrassed by the way she believes it makes her stand out from her traditionally-hearing classmates.

Learning about Cece's experience with assistive technology inspired me to look into how the technology has changed over 40 years.

Before I get into the technology, I want to clarify the difference between deafness and hearing impairment because the terms are sometimes confused. I will use definitions from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which is the resource that educators use. The IDEA legislation ensures all children receive an appropriately challenging K-12 education and helps determine educational services for which students may be entitled ("About IDEA").

According to IDEA, hearing impairment is "an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance" ("Hearing Impairment").

By contrast, deafness "means a hearing impairment so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child's educational performance" ("Deafness").

It's important to note the differences between these two definitions in the IDEA legislation.

Cece is hearing impaired but not deaf.

In school, Cece uses hearing assistive technology called the Phonic Ear. This is a sound amplification system that reminds me of a Walkman radio (remember those?) with ear buds. Cece wears the system strapped to her chest, and her teacher wears a microphone that feeds sound into Cece's amplifier.

Here's Cece's illustration of the Phonic Ear device (Bell 39)...

In El Deafo, Cece describes feeling embarrassed by the size of the amplifier she has to wear under her shirt and the skin irritation it causes.

However, it's not all bad! Cece realizes that wearing the device gives her a unique advantage, her "superpower," which she eventually leverages in social capital.

So, how has the technology changed since the early 1980s? To begin, here's a new and improved 21st century belt-pack receiver offered on School Outfitters.

Ummmmmmm....... this looks the same? How is it different??

To answer that question, let's first define the system. This technology is called an FM system. Think of it as an FM radio channel for one person. Cool!

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), an FM device like Cece's Phonic Ear would allow her to focus exclusively on the teacher wearing the mic and tune out irrelevant background information ("HATS for Children"). It would also help Cece hear her own voice so she could speak at the appropriate volume ("HATS for Children").

While the hearing assistive technology may look similar to the technology 40 years ago, there have been advances in the software of these devices.

As for the future of hearing assistive technology, there's an interesting development for schools called sound field systems. While these systems were designed for students with hearing impairment, researchers sound they actually benefit all students (Phonic Ear "Sound Field Systems"). Winning!

Sound field systems project a teacher's voice equally throughout the classroom using a series of speakers ("HATS for Children"). They also supposedly clarify voices that tend to mumble (Phonic Ear "Sound Field System").

And the best part? This system benefits all learners. Perhaps it's something we will implement in future auditoriums or concert halls!

Here we see the seed of a brilliant idea to support students with special needs blossomed into a revolutionary innovation that benefits everyone. This is why the research is so important!

I'm so grateful to Cece Bell for writing El Deafo, her exceptional graphic memoir. I appreciated learning about her experience with hearing assistive technology as it makes me consider ways to support students with new, creative technology. It also opens my eyes to a new perspective.

I encourage you to read El Deafo and reflect on how technology has affected your own educational journey.  

References

1. Cece Bell’s blog! https://cecebell.wordpress.com/

2. IDEA’s definitions: https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/a/300.8

3. Belt-pack Receiver from School Outfitters: https://www.schooloutfitters.com/catalog/product_info/pfam_id/PFAM4029/products_id/PRO12158

4. ASHA’s article on Hearing-Assistive Technology for Children: https://www.asha.org/public/hearing/hearing-assistive-technology-for-children/

5. Phonic Ear: http://www.phonicear.com/

My Prezi

This was my first experience using Prezi and for this initial presentation I designed a roadmap of my educational journey. I could imagine using this as a supplement to my CV and cover letter during a job interview process if I'm asked to provide materials that would help differentiate me as a candidate. I would also like to use it on the first day of class to introduce myself to my new students. I'm currently earning a license to teach English/Language Arts to grades 7-12 but imagined this Prezi as more suited to upper high school. Were I to teach middle school I would shorten it and add more pictures.

As for my experience using Prezi, it was a mix of fun and frustrating. The layouts are gorgeous, high-quality images and I appreciate the non-linear format for progressing through a presentation. I chose the free "Classic" version and noted there are still many options for adding creativity to the presentation.

On the other hand, I learned two frustrating factors for classroom consideration. First, Chromebooks and Prezi don't always play well together. I could *not* rotate images no matter how much I willed it to work. There was much Googling and fist-shaking as I tried to solve this conundrum. In the end, I was only able to use images that appeared right-side up from the moment I embedded them. This led me to use fewer images than I would have liked. I could imagine students being frustrated with this, especially as Chromebooks are common in schools.

Second, the movement between topic areas makes me dizzy. Does anyone else have this problem? When students would use Prezi in my classroom I would sometimes have to close my eyes during the transitions. Not good for grading a student's presentation!

Overall, my critiques don't take away from the enjoyable experience of designing something completely different for classroom presentations. Prezi offers a unique platform that's polished and (mostly) user-friendly. I enjoyed this adventure. Next time, I'll remember my dramamine.

Three Teaching Blogs I Like

While I am VERY NEW to K-12 teaching and learning, I've discovered a few blogs that are getting me up to speed on the transition from college-level teaching to middle and high school language arts. Here are three blogs I like in no particular order.

1. Language Arts Classroom
     Lauralee Moss founded this blog as a means to provide practical tools for ELA teachers. What I've enjoyed is the blog site's organization by category: ELA, Classroom, and Education. The "ELA" category posts a range of resources from classroom tech, to various literary skills, to standardized testing. Each post is usually titled "How to..." or "Ways to use..." and, just like it promises, the content walks users through the steps to implement these tools in the classroom. The "Classroom" section is full of ways to design your classroom space, management & procedure options, and building a community in the classroom. Finally, "Education" has posts about the profession, from reviews of the latest books to handling angry parents. Overall, this blog is helping me build a toolkit of practical teaching resources to use when I begin to teach.

2. Class Tech Tips
     Monica Burns is my new shero. While she's a tech geek extraordinaire, her mission is to foster a learning environment that prioritizes "tasks before apps" (also the title of her book). The goal is to use technology as a tool to enhance and deepen learning. While this blog covers the spectrum of K-12, the tech is easily adaptable to a teacher's learning goals and subject area.

3. Mindful Schools
     This site is maintained by a collective of educators committed to "education, social justice, and mindfulness." While this is another generalist site that spans K-12, I find the resources are highly applicable to my age group of adolescents. After all, research shows that when adolescents receive training in personal skills such as self-awareness, mood regulation, stress-reduction, and empathy that these skill-sets translate into deeper learning. I'm invested in teaching the whole student, and with almost 50% of our public school kids scoring at least a 1 on the ACE test of childhood trauma, it's important to remember that what our students experience outside of school impacts their ability to learn in the classroom.

Welcome to my teaching blog!

Greetings! I'm currently obtaining my Adolescent & Young Adult Language Arts-focused teaching license from Otterbein University, paired with a sprinkling of classes from Columbus State Community College. 

Before returning to school for my teaching license, I worked at Denison University for 12 years, dividing my time between teaching and administrative work. In terms of teaching, I primarily taught First-Year Writing seminars on various topics, but my favorite class was on fairy tales and popular culture. I also taught gender studies and queer studies classes, and learned a great deal about multicultural education, teaching difficult subject matter, and the transformational power of sustained dialogue.

In my administrative capacity, I was the Assistant Director of the Writing Center for two years and specialized in tutoring English Language Learners. Before that, I helped establish and coordinate Denison's interdisciplinary campus theme for eight years. I originally came to Denison from Thurber House, where I learned about program management by coordinating their writer series.

All this is to say my experience has taught me that I love collaborative teaching, diverse ideas and people, and experiential learning. I also care about making students college or career ready, and believe my background in transitioning students to college-level writing can be reverse engineered to prepare younger students for this transition.

This is my first blog, and I look forward to this new adventure in cyberspace!